TURA: A Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militant, suspected to have engineered the recent Williamnagar IED blast and wanted for kidnapping Chokpot BDO Jude Rangku T Sangma, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in East Garo Hills district on Saturday morning.
GNLA cadre Kandem was shot dead when police raided the hideout of explosive expert Hedeo Ch Momin alias Karak in the jungles of Dorakgre, near Adugre, 16 kms from Williamnagar town.
The deceased had been part of Hedeos command from their days in the jungles of Chokpot and had even posed for a photograph with the abducted BDO, last year.
The GNLA chief Sohan D Shira had moved out former Tura area commander Hedeo to East Garo Hills to prepare IEDs to target civilian areas as well as police teams, said district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak.
“The GNLA team was also preparing to ambush police patrols with IEDs when we launched the assault on the makeshift camp of Hedeo in the jungles near Dorakgre at around 7 AM. Hedeo was present in the camp but managed to escape during the encounter,” said Marak.
He added that two other militants sustained bullet injuries during the gun battle but managed to get away leaving behind the body of Kandem.
Police have recovered gelatine sticks, detonators and electrical fuse wires from the camp of the GNLA leader who was present with as many as 12-13 militants when the operation was launched against them.
The police chief also informed that the deceased militant had planted the IED at Williamnagar market, last week, which exploded causing injury to nine civilians.
The GNLA commander Hedeo, who also goes by the names of Cello-pa and 81, was reportedly trained in the use of explosives by the ULFA outfit.
Police operations have been intensified in the East Garo Hills region in the wake of intelligence reports indicating that the banned militant outfit is planning to use IEDs in a big way to ambush police teams and thereby try and create maximum casualties without having to engage in a fire fight with the better trained police personnel.
